No doubt, heading into last year’s NBA draft, one of the most intriguing players on the board was Iowa State forward Royce White. His talent and versatility was obvious, but what has been intriguing about White as a player so far is that we have yet to see any semblance of that talent in an actual game.

And it might never happen. Asked during an interview on Sirius/XM Radio whether he could wind up not playing in the NBA at all, White said, “I think the chances of that are very high.”

Royce White has yet to play for the Houston Rockets. (AP Photo)

White has an anxiety disorder that includes a fear of flying. When the Rockets used the 16th pick in the draft to select White, they were well aware of his condition. White did play for the Rockets in Summer League and spent the first week of training camp with the team devising a plan that would allow him to play by traveling by bus as he worked on his disorder. But the situation between the Rockets and White deteriorated, with the player saying that his mental health would come before his NBA career.

White has been away from the team for nearly two months, and refused his assignment to the D-League earlier this week. He has frequently made the point that part of his problem is that he came into a league that has no protocol when it comes to mental health of players.

“Business in America, as we all know, is about one thing and that’s convenience and efficiency,” White said in the interview. “And oftentimes what the efficient thing to do is not the healthiest thing to do, right? That’s why we still sell cigarettes. It wouldn’t shock me if we couldn’t be logical and say a protocol is needed because it’ll be the hard thing to do. If that’s the case then so be it. I stand on what I say and I refuse to put myself in a hazardous situation to play a sport.”

White said he has not sought a trade, and that he does not blame the Rockets for the problem — no matter where he went in the NBA, he said, the same conditions would exist.

“I don’t see that going to another team would help anything because no matter what team I go to a protocol is still going to need to be put in place,” White said. “It’s a league thing. The reality is that it is not Houston’s fault. As much as we always want to try and blame one side or the other and try and find the black and white in it, it’s not black and white. It’s gray. And they’ve been thrown into a position now where they’re forced to make things up as they go because a protocol has not been put in place for mental health up until this point. And that’s tough for anybody to do.

“If there were no safety or health codes on how to construct a building, the people who are going to try to build a building tomorrow are going to be in trouble. That’s just the reality here so I don’t really think going to another team is something that would be better. And it’s not something that I want to do. I want to play for Houston.”